Manila: The annual celebration of the National Statistics Month (NSM) provides a venue to advocate and promote the importance of data gathering and the utilization of statistics in decision-making, officials said Monday. "We share the same goal in fostering public awareness and cooperation for a more reliable and responsive national statistical system," said Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Regional Director for Western Visayas Nelida Amolar in a press conference to usher in the start of the 36th NSM celebration this October.

According to Philippines News Agency, Regional Director Arecio Casing Jr. of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev) in Western Visayas stated that their plans are anchored on evidence-based data, with PSA being one of their sources. "The use of statistical data is very important to us. Hence, this advocacy should be shared with all sectors of society, most especially the youth and our children," Casing emphasized.

Casing expressed enthusiasm about the series of activities planned for the month-long celebration, which include student engagement and social media events to highlight the significance of statistics. "What is the source of statistics? Essentially, it's data. What we want really is to advocate data collection to be the source of our statistics," he mentioned.

He further explained that local government units are actively gathering data through their community-based monitoring system (CBMS). Additionally, he noted that Industry 5.0 or Artificial Intelligence (AI) also utilizes gathered data. "Users should be wary and check the data that is being used. You have to make sure you trust the AI you are using," Casing cautioned.

This year's celebration centers on the theme "Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pace of Progress: Mobilizing Data for All."